Ophthalmology at Virginia Mason

Excellent doctor and facility that I would readily recommend to friends and family where I had an unusually excellent medical treatment experience. My story: I stumbled into the Virginia Mason Department of Ophthalmology purely by chance. I've had 20/10 vision my whole life and never before had the need to see an eye doctor. But, on a recent overseas trip, I had noticed a small black speck in my field of view that despite all of my efforts to wash it out, would not go away. Internet medical research lead me to believe that I possibly had some terrible eye tumor, or that my eyeball was drying out, which could lead to a retinal detachment and blindness. I feared not only about my vison, but also the costs that this problem could lead to. Probably due to hearing the tone of my voice, reception was able to schedule me for an appointment very quickly. But frankly what pushed me to write this review was the care that I received from Doctors Janet Chieh and Anna Shagas! First a bit about the facility and staff: - My appointment was sharply on time, which I greatly appreciate! - The tools they used were space-aged, modern and quite reassuring. - Both of the doctors that I saw and their assistants were very good about explaining what they were doing and what to expect, which made the experience of having my eyes scanned, prodded and examined by 3 or 4 different lasers, cameras and scanners, much less intimidating than I expected. When Dr. Shagas (whom I saw first) noticed the "floater" that was causing my speck, she told me that a retinal specialist should have a look at it. I fully expected to be scheduled a month out and have to burn another day from work while sweating over the fact that I might have something terrible going on with my eye. Shockingly, Dr. Chieh (the specialist) was able to see me same day! She too was super awesome - unrushed, gentle and very reassuring. Both of the doctors were genuinely kind, knowledgeable, took the time to answer my questions and did not feel rushed. Not to take anything from Dr. Shagas, who too was awesome, but Dr. Chieh in particular, likely sensing my level of anxiety, really took the extra time to explain everything, share previous experiences and outcomes of other patients who she had treated with my problem. Compared to the few other medical care experiences that I've had, I would have to say that my experience exemplifies how medical care should be! I would highly recommend both doctors and the facility to a friend or family member. And for what it's worth, although unexpected, their charges were actually reasonable.